A Winter Day
by Tango Saltat
Summary: Set before the anime and manga. Little Horohoro and Pilika gaze out the window of their home, enjoying the winter scenery, but Horohoro decides to step out for a bit...


A Winter Day

A group of large eyes, full of curiosity and innocence, stared down at the small baby boy with a tuft of light blue hair, wrapped in a warm blanket embroidered with sharp, geometric designs. The little owners of those eyes muttered amongst themselves quietly in their own language as they floated above the child. 

One clad in a white and red robe shook his head and waved his little leaf around. _This one doesn't have the warmth in his heart to become a medicine man._ He dipped his head respectfully and floated back from the boy.

Another robed in green sighed softly. _He doesn't have the patience to become one of the farmers..._

_Or even a hunter really_, piped up another, dressed in brown.

The mother of the young boy looked somewhat worried by the small spirits' predictions while she sat on her knees, her hands folded in her lap. His father narrowed his eyes, his expression growing serious and solemn. Their eyes shifted towards their son, both wondering what was to become of him in the future. The boy was small, of course, but he was healthy and strong. Surely he would be good for something!

_I don't think he'll be any of those either,_ said a small, shy voice. The rest of the Koropokkeru turned their large eyes upon their fellow spirit, dressed in a white robe with blue bordering the hem of her sleeves, and a pink headband wrapped around her small head.

_Kororo?_

She nodded her head and floated forward, holding her Coltsfoot leaf over her head. _He has a lot of potential to do many other great things. He doesn't have to be a medicine man to be kind, or to be a farmer for patience and a hunter to be a leader. I think, maybe he can be more. _She looked up towards the boy's parents and smiled. _I think I can help guide him... Horohoro._

______

I stood on the tips of my toes, straining them to make myself taller in order to see out of the high window despite my short height. Realizing that I wasn't going to be able to see anything at this rate, I struggled to rest my forearms upon the windowsill and clawed my way up with my bare, chubby toes with my toenails scraping against the wall.

"Onii-chan!" yelled a small, high-pitched voice behind me. "Can you see anything, onii-chan? Why aren't you using the chair??"

"Because that's what _girls_ do, Pilika! I… I can do this myself!" I yelled back in a huff as I tried to lift my entire fifty-pound body with just my arms. After much grunting and ruining of the poor wall, I felt a hard surface slide under my flailing feet. "Pilika!"

"Onii-chan is being stubborn again!" I watched her with detached curiosity as I continued to cling in vain to the windowsill. She slid a chair beside me closer to the window and up against the wall, and then carefully made her way up onto the seat. She gingerly lifted her right leg and planted its side fully on the chair, and shifted her small body towards the left to slide the rest of herself upon the hard seat, as she gripped onto the wooden bars that made up the back of the chair with her tiny hands. With a small snort, I begrudgingly lowered the flats of my feet onto the small stool now below me and stood up to tower over the windowsill.

"Oooh... pwetty..." admired Pilika. Her face was up against the clear glass, her nose a few centimeters away from the surface. Her warm breath fogged the cold glass slightly but it quickly dissipated, leaving her an unobstructed view of the sight before her. I turned my gaze away and towards the landscape that I was so eager to see. My eyes widened as I looked on towards the snow-covered land. Endless pure white stretched as far as the eye could see and small flakes of snow fell from the sky and fluttered softly to a stop as it landed on the cushion of white.

"Sugoi..." I mumbled in awe. I could never get enough of this kind of scenery. It looked so quiet and peaceful but at the same time barren and dead of all life, but I knew there was something out there. This was... nature. "I wanna go out there."

"Huh? But it's snowing!" whined Pilika.

"Awww, who cares? It always snows here anyway."

"But mom and dad will get mad! I don't want onii-chan to get in twouble."

"I'm just gonna play in the snow, that's all. I won't be out there for a long time," I reassured her. I turned my attention to the fog that was building up on the glass and pointed my index finger at it. I pressed against the cold glass and let my finger slide upon it easily.

Ho-ro Ho-ro.

I'm so glad my name's this easy to write.

"But, onii-chaaaan!"

"Shhhh! I'll be fine!" I let my hand fall upon her small head and patted her with a confident smile before I hopped off the chair. I headed towards my navy blue coat with embroidered designs typical of my tribe and picked it up with my small hands to put it on. I zipped it up, slipped my gloves on, and looked down at my chubby self. My arms wouldn't lay straight at my sides due to the cushioning from the coat and I felt like an overweight penguin. I darted my eyes towards my sister again, who was scrambling to get off the chair without falling off and landing on her face. To my amazement, she made it off the chair just fine and she approached me with a worried look on her face. 

"You'll come back reawwy soon, right? You won't freeze and die and get frostbite and get eaten by a bear or moose, right?"

Ack, I didn't think about the bears or moose! But I nodded anyway with a laugh to hide my uneasiness. "Yup, I'm just going out there for a second. You'll see me from the window, so don't worry." I gave her another one of my reassuring grins, then reached up to turn the knob of the door and opened it. A gust of wind nearly blew it wide open and it would have smacked right into my face if I were a few inches closer. Funny, it didn't seem this windy from the window.

Snow rushed into my warm, cozy house but most of it ended up melting in my face. I squinted my eyes and fought against the wind. It felt like it was trying to keep me away from the outside world, but I wouldn't give up that easily. I want to play in the snow, dammit! I squeezed my way through the opening and dragged the door after me and finally, I shut it.

______

I grinned proudly at my handiwork as I stepped back to admire it. In front of me was a genuine Horohoro work of art. Hand-made, of course. The best of its kind! The snowman was about my height, pure white in color with large sticks stuck on the sides as arms. I made sure to pick the nicest, and smoothest branches, so they wouldn't prick at my hands and give me annoying splinters. For eyes, I found some pebbles and easily stuck them on. Now it had a happy grin that was directed right towards my sister, who looked like she was giggling with glee inside our house.

"He likes you, Pilika!" I shouted out in the midst of the blowing wind and lightly falling snow. 

She smiled wide and waved towards the snowman and me, but it faded when a gust of wind nearly knocked me over, blowing even more snow into my face and causing me to sputter. I opened an eye into a slit and stole a glance towards my sister, who had her mouth wide open and her eyes looked fearful. She waved her arms wildly at me, gesturing for me to come back inside. 

Hmph. I looked away from her and towards my creation, not appreciating her sisterly worries, and found that my snowman was missing an arm! "Aw man..." I glanced towards the ground and found the branch broken in two. My face contorted into a disappointed scowl and I sighed, exasperated. All that hard work and the stick had to break on me! 

I turned my eyes back towards Pilika. "Give me one sec!" I mouthed out, holding up a gloved finger. I didn't bother to see what her reaction would be, and I immediately ran off away from the house. It couldn't be -that- hard to find another stick... though, it was a little windy... and it doesn't help that everything was so white! And my face hurt, stiff from all the cold air blowing against it, and my fingers and toes were numb, despite being fully covered by gloves and boots. I also found that I was shivering, badly... When did it get so cold!?

_Ah, don't worry about it! Just gotta find that branch..._

I wrapped my thick arms around my body the best I could, and I trudged on... and on... and on. I stopped, and glanced around. Nothing but white and I could barely see in front of me... or even behind me! Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I turned and glanced in front of me worriedly. Was that where I was coming from? Glancing down at the snow below me, I was amazed to see that there were no footprints anywhere! Not good... Yeah, this was a good time to start heading back. Positive that I was coming from that way, I moved forward once again, my booted feet crunching lightly in the snow, but the white substance threatened to swallow up my foot whole and never let go. I started to run, scared for the first time that the snow wanted to eat me alive, but the added pressure to my feet didn't help stop me from sinking at all. My breath hitched as I tried to keep the tears away, and a cold sweat started on my forehead right underneath the small headband. Where was my home?? Where was Pilika!?

Immediately, my clumsiness reared its ugly head, and I was sent face first into the snow. The cold white was harsh against my soft cheeks; the ice crystals scratching up against them, causing thin red lines to appear on the delicate skin. The snow didn't seem so soft anymore. I shivered and curled up into a ball, removing my face from the crystals. "I wanna go home..." I whimpered out, but no one could hear me. The wind was howling and flakes of snow swirled around and around, creating a vortex around me.

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to fight the tears, afraid that they'd turn into icicles right on my face. But then, the wind just... stopped. No, wait. I opened my eyes, and I gawked. The wind swirled around me, not in a threatening way, but it actually shielded me! I blinked, stupefied at the sight. 

"Kukukuru!"

I darted my eyes around, looking for the source of that sound. Funny, it sounded almost happy. 

There! A dot of green! 

I don't question how there could be a plant still alive in this kind of weather, but I immediately follow it, and the vortex followed along with me, continuing to be my guardian against the harsh blizzard. I kept running, struggling to keep my feet above the snow. It kept making the same sound, but with different pitches, shortening and lengthening the sound at different syllables. Was it talking to me? I couldn't understand it...

Finally, the sound faded away into an echo, and the little blizzard collapsed, revealing the small house belonging to my family. I blinked, and saw my father right outside the door, garbed in his heavy coat and he looked just about ready to leave. He gave me a scary scowl, indicating that he was just about to search for me.

___

I got a good scolding from both my parents, but they both hugged me anyway, glad that I was all right. But Pilika was the harshest of all.

"Onii-chan no baka!! I _told _you not to go out there... but nooooooo, you just had to go and build Mr. Snowman! Baaakaaaa!"

I sweatdropped and winced when she bopped me over the head with her doll. "Mou... gomen."

"Aaaand! You disappeared on me! I was so wowwied!!!" she cried out, suddenly burying her face into my chest. I blinked and sighed softly. I hate guilt trips. 

"Gomen... I won't do that again, okay?" I awkwardly patted her back.

"You better not!" she murmured, muffled by shirt.

I continued to soothe her, patting her back and promising over and over again that I wouldn't be such a baka and head out alone again. Sighing, I idly shifted my gaze towards the window that started all of this, but I quickly blinked in surprise. Rising from my seat, and giving Pilika one more pat on the head, I headed towards the windowsill. I stood on my toes again, my eyes going cross-eyed as I tried to look at the thing before actually touching it. 

A leaf? 

I reached up for it and plucked it from the sill, and turned the crisp stem over in between my small fingers, causing the big, green leaf to twirl.

I've seen this before! 

_Dad showed me a whole field of these during the summer! _It didn't take me long to remember something that was forever stuck in my mind. 

_He said that good spirits live with these, too… _My thoughts turned to that spot of green in the pure white. 

_Nah, it couldn't be._

_____

A/N: I bet you all could tell when I started and stopped writing this, only to resume a few months later. Ugh, I hate the beginning.

At first, this was going to be a huge story with Horohoro's coming of age and whatnot, starting from his birth, but after doing some research on the Ainu… well, that wasn't going to happen. First of all, I don't even think Ainu houses have glass windows. I know they have –one- window in their house, but they can't even look out of it because that's where the spirits come in. Um.. I guess you could say Horohoro and Pilika were breaking the rules, but I doubt they're living in a traditional Ainu house right now. So much for all my research!

I adore Horohoro and there should be more fics about him! Don't you all agree!? *hint hint, nudge nudge*

Comments, criticism, and concerns are always welcome! Help me write better! I bet there are a lot of tense disagreements up there. Never was very good at those. And I think I spelled Kororo's race wrong… oh well.


End file.
